Forward into our fourth - the Fight for #FReadom

 

Three years ago, we led our first grass-roots action to fight censorship - a Twitter hashtag takeover of the #txlege hashtag in support of diverse books.  Little did we know when our team planned this action, we'd witness over 13,000 tweets be shared on November 4, 2021, or that three years later we'd still be deep in a fight for intellectual freedom not just in Texas, but also beyond. 

    But here we are.

    We've seen everything imaginable and unimaginable, from the unbelievable - drawing shorts on characters in picture book illustrations - to the dangerous - critically maligning the stories of LGBTQ students and students of color. We’ve seen local policies change and onerous state legislation be passed. We've seen author visits and book fairs cancelled. And we've seen censorship efforts increase 100 fold, knowing this is just what is being reported. 

    So as we begin our fourth year fighting censorship in Texas and beyond, we are committed to centering much of our work on moving "from awareness to ACTION." 

    Many of you have quietly or openly been taking action the last three years in your communities.  We've seen courageous librarians speaking up at school board meetings, participating in interviews, rallying their local communities and more.  We've witnessed student groups asserting their right to read and taking political action.  We've seen teachers speak up despite losing their jobs. 

    We also know about many quiet acts of courage - librarians determined to follow and defend their local library policies, quietly reminding their administrators or library board of the policies, asserting the importance of the First Amendment and the rights of readers, and supporting EVERY student's access to books. But still many stories focus more on the restrictive decisions and less on the call to action.

    Early on,  Tx FReadom Fighters built a set of tools and resources for librarians and community members to take action. Unite Against Book Bans, PEN America, NCAC and other organizations have created toolkits to help with talking points, and groups like EveryLibrary have created free websites for advocacy. 

Now that we have these tools, we need to continue to focus on actions. What can we do to fight for #FReadom?

    We know intellectual freedom work is hard and exhausting. As founding members of FReadom Fighters, we feel these same challenges every day.  But things will only change if we continue to pull together and keep going.  As we enter our fourth year of #FReadom fighting, we'll be focusing on actions.  We are launching this blog to share actions in more detail.  And we'll be launching a podcast soon, too.  We hope our followers will join us for all of that.

    Martin Luther King said, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."  It is our hope that our followers will continue to stand with the librarian and educator community for the #FReadom and access to books our readers deserve.

    Thank you for your own work and participation the last three years.  There’s  an election on November 5, 2024 that will reveal whether the intellectual freedom fight gets harder or can eventually be overcome.  

    But today, on the fourth anniversary of our launch, we are grateful to our originating members and to the many advocates, partners, nonprofits, librarians, students, teachers, authors, parents and community members who we've come to know. You know who you are.

Thank you for all that each of you do everyday.  Onward...